Wednesday, December 14, 2016

10th Vedanta VachaspatiRadhaNathPhukan Memorial Lecture

India has made rapid strides in space research within a short span of
time, and we can expect significant breakthroughs in the near future.

Today, the world recognizes India’s capacities in this field, which
was not the case earlier. This was one of the views expressed by
distinguished scientist DrJitendraNathGoswami recently.

Delivering the 10th Vedanta VachaspatiRadhaNathPhukan Memorial
Lecture – ‘From a Fishing Hamlet to Moon and Mars’ – organized by the
Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, he said that there is a whole
range of technology that ISRO has mastered in the area of space
exploration through the dedication of its scientists, many of whom are
women.

Working in six or more separate areas they have come up with ideas
and inventions which have been synergized to develop technology for
producing both satellites and launch vehicles. Many of the technologies
were created indigenously because those could not be purchased by India
from foreign countries which own them.

The success of the Chandrayaan 1 has shown that India is capable of
planetary exploration containing many challenges. “Space exploration,
including one like Chandrayaan Mission is unforgiving. There is no scope
for error.”

On ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission he said that its success is
significant, because India achieved it through relatively modest budget,
and did it on the very first attempt. Currently many nations have come
forward to collaborate with India taking the country’s space technology
very seriously.

Today ISRO’s payload delivery system is so reliable that many other
countries and foreign companies use its launch vehicles put their
satellites in orbit.

He said that sending a space craft beyond Mars would present some
hurdles. The propulsion system needed to carry them over very long
distances would have to be very sophisticated and unlike those which are
currently available with India. A foreign country will not easily sell
such a technology to us.

The occasion was also marked by the release of the book, Development
Through Culture written by eminent thinker S. Gurumurthy. Published by
VKIC, the volume focuses on the traditional cultural strengths of India
being used to create and sustain comprehensive economic development in
the country.

Earlier Dipok Kumar Barthakur, Chairman of VKIC delivered the welcome
lecture and spoke about the institution’s activities, which centre
around protecting and promoting the culture of Indigenous communities of
N E India and showing the commonalties they have with the rest of
India.